And more.

While I was typing that last post, Child came in and said, "I need to vent some frustrations." She had three different companies she's trying to call (to give them money!), and 5 different phone numbers between them. No one answered.

Seriously, businesses. Do you honestly feel good running this way? I still think dark thoughts about Comcast, Dell, and Brent Brown auto, whose reps at various times misled, lied, and simply hung up on me.

External Drive Power Problem

Both Child and I have an external hard drive. The key to both the problem and the solution is that our drives use the same-sized plug, but hers is 9 volts and mine is 12 volts.

Child's drive stopped working on her MacBook. The drive power-light would light up (briefly) when it was turned on, but it wouldn't register with her MacBook. I tried it on my Dell, and Windows would recognize that a device was plugged in, but it wouldn't install it correctly. We took it to SimplyMac, and it wouldn't work on their computers either. Again, the drive would light up, but not register on the computers. I even tried MY external drive (but using her power cord!) on her Mac, but it didn't work either.

The key turned out to be the power cord. The issue was very subtle, because her 9 volt power cord was apparently enough to turn the drive on, but not powerful enough to make it function correctly. Which is strange, because it was the power cord that came with the drive.

However, using my 12 volt power cord, the drive would not only turn on, but function correctly. Maybe this will help someone else...

New Laptop!

With my laptop starting to get issues (ethernet port not working, wireless iffy, standby not working, 'enter' key falling off), I decided I needed a new computer.

For a while I debated between a desktop and laptop, but finally decided that the convenience and travelability of a laptop beat the cheaper price and better specs of a desktop.

After doing some online and in-store searching, I finally decided to custom-build a laptop on dell.com. I started with one of the cheaper ones (since my computing needs are pretty light), then upgraded a couple things. The final laptop had a price of $750.

Right before I bought it, though, our in-house online coupon expert walked in. "Hey, find me a good Dell coupon!" I said.

After a little searching, he uncovered a coupon that gave 25% off a Dell laptop of $1000 or more. A little math revealed that a $1000 laptop at 25% off was...$750.

I went on an upgrading spree. More memory! A larger hard drive! A better processor! Finally, my computer hit $1000, the coupon kicked in, and the price dropped back to $750.

So thanks to Philip, I have a much better laptop for the same price I was going to pay originally. For those who care, here are the specs:

• Dell Insipron 1520
• Dual-core Intel processor (2.0 GHz/800 MHz FSB/2 MB L2 cache, up from the original 1.73 GHZ/533 MHz/1 MB)
• Windows XP (I deliberately chose this over Vista, and plan to dual-boot Ubuntu)
• 4 GB RAM (up from the original 2)
• 15.4" screen
• 160 GB hard drive (up from the original 120 GB. I don't need a lot of space; I'm not a "media" person)
• CD/DVD drive (reader/writer)